Measuring Accounting Disclosure in a Period of Complex Changes: The Case of Egypt

Significant changes in accounting disclosure are observed in periods of economic change such as those relating to emerging capital markets and programs of privatization. Measurement of the level of accounting disclosure should ideally be designed to capture the complexity of change in order to give insight and explanation to match the causes and consequences of change. This paper shows the added interpretive value in subdividing the disclosure checklist to reflect the requirements of national accounting regulations, the location of disclosure items in the annual report, and limitations on the availability of regulations in official translation to the local language. Defining targeted disclosure categories leads to significance testing of specific aspects of changes in accounting disclosure in the Egyptian capital market in the 1990s. Strong correlation of disclosure with the presence of majority government ownership of the company and the relative activity of share trading supports the applicability of political costs and capital need theories, respectively. The relation between International Accounting Standards (IASs) disclosure and the type of audit firm points to additional theoretical explanations, including relative familiarity with the legislation and compliance features identifiable with the emerging capital market. The approach described in this paper has the potential for enhancing understanding of the complexity of accounting change in other emerging capital markets and developing economies.     

Disclosures about algorithmic decision making in the corporate reports of Western European companies

Over the last decade, the use of different artificial intelligence (AI) tools has increased. To shed some light on the emerging trend of AI disclosure, the aim of this paper is to analyse the current practices of major Western European companies regarding the automated decision-making (ADM) disclosure in their annual or sustainability reports. This paper proposes a methodology based on bigrams that enables the automatic extraction of the information on ADM that companies disclose. The sample consisted of 962 annual/sustainability reports, published in 2018 and 2019, of 337 companies listed on 13 Western European countries’ stock markets. Our findings show that ADM disclosure is still at an early stage and that the first adopters are mostly companies operating in the financial sector.     

VOLUNTARY DISCLOSURES IN AN EMERGING CAPITAL MARKET: SOME EVIDENCE FROM THE ATHENS STOCK EXCHANGE

Prior research has pointed to the need to subdivide aspects of voluntary disclosure rather than treat this as an amorphous mix. However, questions about the relative reasons for the variations observed across categories of voluntary disclosure remain open to investigation. This paper contributes to that investigation in the context of a European emerging capital market. Three categories of voluntary disclosure are developed (namely, corporate environment, social responsibility and finance-related disclosures) and each category is tested for association with seven company-specific variables (corporate size, gearing, profitability, liquidity, industry, share return and listing status) in the annual reports of 87 companies listed on the Athens Stock Exchange (ASE). The extent of voluntary disclosure is relatively low. Using linear regression analysis, different explanations are found for the separate categories of disclosure based on prior evidence. Interpretation and analysis are offered in the context of the operation of the ASE.     

企业业绩组合业绩差异与季报披露的时间选择--管理层信息披露的组合动机与信息操作

本文主要考察企业业绩组合、业绩差异与季报披露的时间选择之间的关系以及季报披露时间的信息内涵。实证研究显示,上年年报和一季度季报均为“好消息”,一季度每股收益、净资产收益率和主营业务利润率高的上市公司季报披露时间间隔大;上年年报为“好消息”而一季度季报为“坏消息”,上年年报为“坏消息”而一季度季报为“好消息”,上年年报和一季度季报均为“坏消息”,一季度每股收益比上年度高的上市公司季报披露时间间隔小。这可能是由于一季度季报和上年年报均要求在4月30日之前披露的特殊性,上市公司管理层在信息披露的过程中可能存在组合动机与信息操作行为,一季度季报披露的时间选择可能关键取决于上年年报和一季度季报披露的“好消息”或“坏消息”带来的积极影响或消极影响的组合与权衡。     

Women on boards and greenhouse gas emission disclosures

We apply institutional and board capital theory to examine whether women on boards are associated with disclosure and quality of corporate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions related reporting. We examine the research problem in Australia in a period when no requirements existed for listed companies to appoint female directors or to report GHG emissions. This environment allows us to examine the association between women on boards and GHG emissions related disclosure in annual and sustainability reports in a voluntary setting. We find that companies with multiple female directors make GHG emissions related disclosures that are of higher quality.     

资本市场会计信息披露暨治理问题研究--基于上市公司会计信息披露不对称的视角

上市公司会计信息生产和披露质量直接影响了资本市场的稳定健康发展。资本市场会计信息生产和披露存在着一定的供求机理,直接影响了会计信息生产和披露的质量。由于管理主体上的虚化、内控弱化和治理结构上的偏差、会计信息系统的集成和共享性弱以及从业人员素质上的差异,使得上市公司会计信息披露存在着不充分性、非主动性、虚假性和滞后性问题,由此增加了资本市场信息不对称和风险发生的可能。因此,严厉打击资本市场会计信息造假,规范资本市场会计信息披露,需要进一步完善资本市场会计信息披露制度,创新和完善新技术背景下会计准则和会计制度,加强对现有上市公司会计信息生产和会计信息披露标准的制定和使用,提升上市公司会计信息生产和会计信息披露独立审计监督的标准化和规范化水平,加强上市公司会计信息生产和披露监督标准化体系建设。     

资本市场开放能否提高企业信息披露质量？——基于“沪港通”和年报文本挖掘的分析

提高信息披露质量对于改善上市公司治理结构和保护股东权益具有重要意义。本文利用2014年开通的“沪港通”机制这一准自然实验,研究资本市场开放是否提高了企业的信息披露质量。从2010-2019年A股上市公司年报文本中提炼可读性指标衡量信息披露质量,使用匹配和双重差分方法进行实证研究,发现“沪港通”机制实施以后,标的公司(纳入“沪港通”的A股上市公司)的信息披露质量显著提高。这一结论对不同的估计方法、样本区间及控制变量组均保持稳健。异质性分析表明,对于盈余操纵水平较高、股价信息含量较低的企业,资本市场开放能够更好地改善其信息披露质量。本文丰富了资本市场开放对企业行为和绩效影响的实证研究,为继续推进资本市场开放政策提供了理论依据。     

Corporate mandatory disclosure practices in Bangladesh

This study reports the results of an empirical investigation of the extent of mandatory disclosure by 94 listed companies in Bangladesh. It also reports the results of the association between company-specific characteristics and mandatory disclosure of the sample companies. The results indicate that companies in general have not responded adequately to the mandatory disclosure requirements of the regulatory bodies. It has been found that companies, on average, disclose 44% of the items of information, which leads to the conclusion that prevailing regulations are ineffective monitors of disclosure compliance by companies. Company age appears to be an insignificant factor for mandatory disclosure. And there is little support for industry size as a predictor of mandatory disclosure except where size is measured by sales. Then it is marginally significant. Profitability was also found to have no effect on disclosure. And status, i.e., whether a company is modern or traditional also has no effect on mandatory disclosure.     

董事会报告可读性、制度环境与股权资本成本

依据2007-2016年中国上市公司数据,考量上市公司董事会报告的可读性、制度环境与股权资本成本之间的关系。结果发现：董事会报告更好的可读性、制度环境更完善有助于降低公司股权资本成本;制度环境越完善,公司股权资本成本越少受到董事会报告可读性的影响。鉴此,应完善公司非财务信息披露和外部制度环境,促进企业有效信息的对外传递,降低企业融资成本。     

上市公司临时报告之重大交易披露标准研究——基于股票上市规则的监管实践与思考

重大性标准是股票上市规则中持续信息披露制度的核心要素。目前部分上市公司资本运作频繁,偏离主业、盈余管理问题突出,同时亦存在通过拆分交易等规避披露要求之情形,导致当前重大性标准未能充分适应市场变化的需要,上市公司商业效率、决策效率以及投资者知情权之间的平衡难以维系。本文在归纳总结上市公司交易事项披露之重大性标准表现形式及内在逻辑的基础上,梳理了我国现行规则的特点及应用难点,研究了成熟资本市场的做法,就股票上市规则中重大性标准测试指标体系的优化、累计计算规则中"标的相关"条件的适用以及上市公司证券投资行为的披露等方面提出完善建议。     

林木类生物资产会计信息披露研究

本文在对林木类生物资产投融资所处国内外资本市场环境分析基础上,选取我国拥有林木类生物资产的28家上市公司2007年年报为样本,对其林木类生物资产会计信息披露进行了研究,提出了进一步完善林木类生物资产会计信息披露的原则和内容,其重点在于完善林木类生物资产强制性披露,同时规范自愿性披露。     

Determinants and consequences of voluntary disclosure in an emerging market: Evidence from China

In this paper we examine empirically the determinants of voluntary disclosure in the annual reports of Chinese listed firms that issue both domestic and foreign shares and determine if the cost of debt capital is related to the extent of voluntary disclosure. We find the level of voluntary disclosure is positively related to the proportion of state ownership, foreign ownership, firm performance measured by return on equity, and reputation of the engaged auditor. There is no evidence, however, that companies benefit from extensive voluntary disclosure by having a lower cost of debt capital.     

投资者情绪对上市公司业绩快报自愿披露行为的影响 ——基于盈余管理部分中介效应的研究

基于会计策略的综合运用视角,探寻上市公司盈余管理行为在投资者情绪影响业绩快报披露过程中的中介作用。研究发现：公司年报中正向盈余管理程度越大,披露业绩快报的可能性越大;对于盈利公司而言,高涨的投资者情绪对业绩快报披露的促进作用部分通过盈余管理策略中介,但对于亏损公司而言,高涨的投资者情绪会对业绩快报披露产生直接抑制作用,投资者情绪高涨经由盈余管理策略对业绩快报披露所产生的间接正向影响,会被直接的抑制作用所遮掩。研究结论有助于深入了解上市公司不同信息披露策略之间的交互影响,并进一步理清投资者情绪对公司不同信息披露策略的作用机理。     

MM理论及其对我国上市公司资本结构的影响

合理配置企业的资本结构对实现企业的财务管理目标有重要的作用。本首先介绍MM理论的发展，以及经扩展后的现代资本结构理论，并在分析我国上市公司资本结构现状的基础上，探讨该理论对我国上市公司资本结构优化的影响。     

Determinants of corporate social and environmental reporting in Hong Kong: a research note

The patterns and determinants of corporate social and environmental disclosure (CSED) in Hong Kong (HK) are examined by analysing 154 annual reports of 33 HK listed companies from 1993 to 1997. The research finds that industry difference has an impact on the amount, content theme and location of CSED. There is a positive correlation between company size and the level of CSED. Utility companies disclose more CSED than property and banking firms.     

中国上市公司年度报告披露及时性实证研究

年度报告作为投资者决策的重要信息源之一,其及时性受到了监管部门和市场研究者的关注。本文通过对中国上市公司1993～2003年间公布的8294份年度报告披露时间进行多元回归分析,发现除盈利公司比亏损公司更及时地公布其年度报告外,标准无保留审计意见公司也较非标准无保留意见的公司更及时地披露其年度报告,证实了中国股票市场存在“好消息早,坏消息晚”披露的基本规律。而且,随着时间推移,我国上市公司年报披露的及时性在逐步提高。     

上市公司信息披露与投资者信息获取的成本效益问卷调查分析

本文分别对上市公司信息披露的成本效益和投资者信息获取的成本效益网上问卷调查进行分析 ,结果表明 ,上市公司信息披露工作的费用呈逐年上升态势 ;投资者为获取公开信息所负担的费用较多 ,总体呈上升趋势 ;投资者普遍认为对投资决策极重要的公开信息项目有年度报告、利润分配及转增股本实施公告、首次发行或二次发行招股说明书及发行公告等。投资者认为最重要的定期报告项目是主要财务指标 (中报 )和会计数据和业务数据摘要 (年报 )、股本变动和 (主要 )股东 (持股 )情况以及财务报告。对机构投资者而言 ,其在作出投资决策时最关注的财务指标依次是上市公司成长性指标、盈利数量指标、盈利质量指标。而对偿债能力指标、资产状况指标、营运状况指标、现金流量指标和利润分配指标则关注程度不是很大。     

Perpetuating traditional influences: Voluntary disclosure in Malaysia following the economic crisis

Prior research on listed companies in Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore during and before the 1997 financial crisis has reported a significant association between ownership structure and the extent of voluntary disclosure in annual reports. We examine data for Malaysia after the 1997 financial crisis to assess whether the regulatory reaction to the crisis increased the awareness of disclosure as a tool of corporate governance and reduced the influence of insider domination on voluntary disclosure. We contrast director ownership and government ownership as determinants of voluntary disclosure in Malaysian company annual reports. Additionally, we include consideration of proprietary costs by testing whether industry competitiveness has an impact on voluntary disclosure.We find that director ownership is significantly associated with the extent of voluntary disclosure while government ownership, new governance initiatives and industry competitiveness are not significant in pointing companies towards greater transparency. We conclude that, despite the upheaval of the economic crisis, traditional influences of director ownership and family domination of the board outweigh the effect of government-backed accountability initiatives in determining the extent of voluntary disclosure.     

Artificial intelligence activities and ethical approaches in leading listed companies in the European Union

This study explores the information regarding Artificial Intelligence (AI) included by European listed companies in their annual and/or sustainability reports. The study mainly focuses on (1) the development and use of AI systems/projects reported by companies, (2) the extent to which companies disclose ethical principles or guidelines regarding AI and (3) the factors explaining these practices.The study analyses the reports of 200 companies listed in the major indexes of Germany, Sweden, Finland, France, Spain, and Italy, both from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. All reports are analysed, using content analysis methodology, to identify expressions such as ‘artificial intelligence’, ‘machine learning’, ‘deep learning’, and ‘big data’, and then classified accordingly. The study’s findings suggest a growing interest in the above-mentioned technologies, although 41.5% of companies do not report any activity in the field of AI. The adoption of ethical approaches to AI is at a very preliminary stage, and<5% of companies report on that issue. The quantitative analysis shows that larger companies, companies in the Technology and Telecommunications industries, and companies based in Southern countries are more likely to disclose information on AI activity. The majority of companies that develop ethical principles are listed in the Northern region and belong to the Technology and Telecommunications industries.The study provides evidence of AI disclosure, a type of non-financial disclosure that has not been explored yet in the literature. Unlike existing studies, we propose a first definition of the topic and a taxonomy that can be used in further research on AI disclosure and can contribute to the development of KPIs in the field. Furthermore, this study provides a theoretical framework integrating some traditional theories, such as Voluntary disclosure theory, Signalling theory, and Legitimacy theory, specifically drawn to interpret AI disclosure practices, which can help with a further in-depth exploration of AI disclosure combining concurrent perspectives. The study’s results may serve as a starting point for researchers and companies interested in the topic.